Town officials have been aware of a deficit in the water district fund for years, but continued with its budgeting practices into 2014, the audit report found, and the town's court did not conduct several basic, documented accounting practices.

A third of the Suburban Council school districts, typically thought of as wealthy, are deemed by the state comptroller to be susceptible to fiscal stress, part of a statewide trend as taxes are capped and property values stagnate.